Festoon drier



June 1936- c. A. DICKI-IAUT ET AL 2,043,795

FESTOON DRIER Filed Oct. 9, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY Ju he 9, 1936.

C. A. DICKHAUT ET AL FESTOON DRIER Filed Oct. 9, 1953 4 Shets-Sheet 2 FESTOON DRIER Filed Oct. 9, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 II! l1llllllllll llllllllllll ATTORNEY June 1936' c. A. DICKHAUT ET AL 2,043,795

FESTOON DRIER Filed Oct. 9, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented June 9, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FESTOON DRIER Application October 9, 1933, Serial No. 692,750

7 Claims. (01. 34 20) This invention relates to a method and apparatus for drying paper and the like.

In drying paper and the like and particularly coated paper, printed, lithographed or otherwise treated a device known as a festoon drier is sometimes used. This method permits of drying of lengths of paper in a relatively restricted area while at-the same time allowing free contraction of the paper in the process of drying. However, paper coated on one side curls up due to the expansion of the coated side making the initial formation of the festoon free from cockles" diflicult. In the usual form of festoon which operates at relatively slow speeds of not over two hundred fifty feet a minute the paper is. picked up by travelling sticks on travelling carriers forming the initial loops or festoons and the sticks with the paper looped over are delivered onto long horizontal chains or carriers. At thespeed utilized the loops can be formed and the change can be made without excessive breakage .or injury to the paper. Any material increase of the speed causes the sticks to jump and materially increases the breakage due to the snapping of the paper as well as affecting the positioning of the paper with respect to the sticks andits proper direction of travel. If the paper is not properly positioned the edges of the paper become damaged or the paper becomes broken. The paper, wet from the coating, loses considerable tensile strength and at the same time is increased in weight. At the takedown or winder end of the machine the sticks with their festoons are delivered over a dead. rail to the delivery carriers which is possible at slow speeds but much more diflicult above two hundred feet a minute. A drying medium such as hot air has been used in connection with a festoon drier which permits of drying at a higher rate of speed thereby increasing the capacity of the machine and decreasing the cost of production, but maximum benefits could not be had heretofore because of the limitation in the speed at which it was possible to put the paper on in festoons and take it 01?. I

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for festoon drying at relatively highspeeds and to put on and take 50 off the festoons at the same high speeds with practically no breaking or damage to the paper or other material being dried.

Another object of the invention isto provide a method and apparatus for steady high speed op- 65 eration of a festoon drier without delays caused by jamming of sticks, misalinement of the paper upon the sticks, cockling", injury to the edges of the paper and other like difficulties incident to festoon drying.

Still another object of the invention is to prop- 5 erly form the festoons utilizing air pressure or the pressure of the heating medium.

A further object of the invention is to remove the festoons at the windup end of the machine without slippage and without snapping and 10 breakage of the paper.

A still further object of the invention is to vary the speed of travel of the sticks at predetermined rates at different places to control and eifectuate certain results. Other objects will 15 appear more fully hereinafter.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the coating and front end of the festoon drier including the air pressure means to assist in the formation of the festoons embodying the principles of our inven- 20 tion.

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the next succeeding section including one-half of the turntable end.

Figure 4 is a view inside elevation of Figure 3. 25

Figure 5 is a plan view of the next succeeding portion on the return side of the drier including the other half of the turntable end similar to Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a view in side elevation of Figure 5. 30

Figure 7 is a plan view of the remaining portion showing the windup end.

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a view in side elevation of the 5 means for reducing the loops and removing the sticks adjacent the windup.

Figure 10 is a detail view of the stick feeding and control adjacent the windup.

Figure 11 is a modified form of stick control 0 adjacent the windup.

In carrying out our invention, we propose to coat the paper I by any standard method. In the drawings we have shown a roll coating method of coating, the paper coming from stock roll 2 under tension roll 3 around rolls 4, 5, 6, l, 8, 9, to roll ID. The coating is applied by roll I! in bath l2 applying same to roll l3 which wipes the coating on the paper I passing around roll I0. Any method of coating paper may be used in connection with our invention.

On the festoon drier as previously commonly used the paper is fed over the stick about half way up the elevator and when the stick reaches the top of the elevator it changes from the inweb, particularly if the machines are of wide widths and with light paper, becomes dangerous as cookies form in the bottom of the sheet and there is also a tendency for the sheet to float which tendency is greater in the wide widths and light weights. It is also difficult to expel the air from in-between the loops of paper in order to close up the festoon quickly between one stick and another. The object therefore of our takeup is to feed the paper directly onto the conveyors carrying sticks I6 and I! at practically the lineal speed of the paper as it leaves the coating machine. The paper passes from the coating device over travelling belt I4 and thence over travelling belt I5. The paper is then taken up by sticks I6, I'I. Sticks I6 are carried by chains I8 and sticks H by chains I9. Air or heating medium is blown upon the web and presses the paper I against sticks I6, IT, to form the initial loops of the festoons I00. With the paper laid on the conveyor and the sticks I6, I'I, travelling at nearly the paper speed the sticks I6 are dropped out from under the paper by chains I8 as the latter pass around sprockets 22. In this way a long loop IOI between sticks I1 is formed. The rate of travel of stick I1 is then slowed down and will be slightly under 400 feet per minute assuming the paper speed is 400 feet per minute by changing the speed of the chains from 64 to 62. As the sticks H are gradually brought together the stick travelling on 62 is travelling at a slower rate. The two sticks therefore gradually approach and by further reduction in speeds the sticks are closed up until they come down to a normal spacing of possibly 12" apart, without any sudden shifting of the loop or festoon and without sudden expelling of the air between the loops thereby preventing cockles or distortion of the sheet. Although the paper I may be said to be travelling at a constant speed there is a variation throughout the machine due to the taking up or paying out by reason of the variation of the distance between the sticks in different sections of the machine. In other words, by controlling the speed of travel of the sticks from start to finish the sticks are caused to form the festoons initially, to travel the required distance relatively far apart until the coating is sufliciently dried then to bring the festoons closer together as the coating dries and there is no longer danger of injury to the coating from the festoons or loops contacting. Bringing the sticks closer together increases the capacity of the machine which is also increased by the increased speed at which our invention may be run. .The device may be made in straight line form or as shown in a return form utilizing any well known form of turntable 23. In general the speed of the sticks of each succeeding section of the first leg of the machine is reduced 50% thereby decreasing the distance apart of the sticks. On the return leg the reduction continues for each succeeding section up to the sections adjacent the windup.

Another great difiiculty with the usual type of festoon drier lies in delivering the paper from the festoon to the winder. At the present time it is common practice to deliver the sticks to a stationary rail called a dead rail, on which excess paper will accumulate during the time of stopping for changing the winder rolls. The

paper is then drawn off from the festoon to the winder and as the slack between the winder and festoon stick on the dead rail is taken up this latter stick is started to move by the paper travelling at full speed. Heavy papers or cloth can be handled in this way even up to speeds of 300 feet or a little more but in the case of light papers the tendency to snap or tear the edges is so great that a speed above 300 feet is practically prohibited. In our invention the paper coming down to the delivery end has its final normal spacing as shown at IOI. This may be closed down on the final drying sections to from six to twelve inches apart depending upon the weight of the paper. The paper is delivered from the regular festoons to the front of section X with the chains running slightly faster. Section X represents the section adjacent 24 and is a smooth surface conveyor comprising a block chain with smooth side up so that the sticks can slide. In case of the winder being stopped for a change of rolls the paper will accumulate between the front of section X and the previous section, thus providing a dead rail section. At the end of section X a latch arrangement is provided by which one stick at a time with its corresponding festoon paper is delivered onto section 24. The sticks I! are retarded by fingers A and pawl E. The movement of the fingers and the pawl are controlled by a photoelectric cell as shown in Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11. The photoelectric cell I03 has alight source I04 which is covered by the festoon until the festoon is shortened by the separation of the sticks to a predetermined amount. When the' light from the source I04 strikes the photoelectric cell I03 a relay I05 is actuated which in turn actuates a solenoid I06, the latter operates a lever I01 which raises pawl E and lowers pawl G. The rail I08 above the sticks carries the small fingers A. When A is in use the sticks which would actually be in the rack are B, C and D, etc., when the pawl E israised by lever I01 operated through solenoid I06 by the photoelectric cell, stick B will then fall onto the lower pass. As soon; however, as pawl E is raised G drops and holds stick C in position until the photoelectric cell releases pawl E allowing the latter to return to its normal position. When this happens pawl G rises, allowing stick C to move forward to the position of B. Owing to the weighted end on the levers A as soon as the forward stick in position B is released these in turn will fall allowing sticks C and D,. etc., to move up. It will thus be seen that one stick is passed oil at a time and the next one is prevented from coming onto the lower pass and jamming before the levers return. It should be noted with this device that the sticksare maintained separate. In the case of heavy stock being used this'is an essential. Where lighter stock is used and sticks can come directly together lever G will then be-in the position of F allowing of very close positioning of the sticks as shown in dotted line in Figure 10 and the small fingers A would be dispensed with. The sticks pass down through stick conveyor II' onto endless belt II 2 which conveys them on to cross over device of the usual form to take up side. The sticks on the moving chains of section. 24 will have a speed of approximately feet per minute. At this speed the stick can be easily picked up and carried along without danger of cracking the edges to 26 the speed is stepped up to 400 feet per minute, the slu'face speed of the paper. The stick therefore is then moving at 'the same speed at which the paper is being taken off by the winder.

' 5 In this way the festoons are again widened out to nearly a. straight line and the paper is taken off the stick without putting any strain on the paper to start the stick to move which would result in injury and waste of paper.

10 In the modified form shown in Figure 11 the photoelectric cell is used in a similar manner as previously described. A star wheel I09 is controlled through an escapement pawl H which in turn is operated by the solenoid Ill whereby 15 one notch of the star wheel I09 is rotated by the action of the solenoid. One stick is moved onto the lower pass by the movement of pawl H0 and another stick is moved up by the star wheel I09. In this case a light friction drive so to operate the pawl H0 is run slightly faster than stick speed or the stick control mechanism as previously described may be utilized for light stocks by omission of fingers A and the change of position of pawl G to pawl F, the sticks then 25 assuming the position in dotted lines shown in Figure 10.

For heavy stock the sticks must be maintained apart to prevent the breaking of the web while for light weight stock this necessity does not '30 apply. The sticks must be fed one at a time onto 24 in exact timing with the delivery of a stick from 26 as required by the photoelectric cell. When the stick leaves 26 the other sticks are held back to prevent a misfeed. For the 35 purpose of description of the takeoff mechanism sticks ll have been denominated as sticks B, C and D, in Figure 10. The rewind mechanism may be of the usual form and the paper may be slit or otherwise processed after leaving the 40 drier. The drive for the chains may be varied and is in the usual form. Motor 42 drives the coating machine and the festoon machine up to and including section X. Sections 24, 25 and 26, and all remaining parts will be driven from 45 motor 43 at the winder end. These sections run completely independent of the coating head and stop and start depending only on the removal of rolls from the winding head, section X acting as a reservoir which fills up and empties during 50 the time of changing rolls.

Thus for heavy stock the sticks must be maintained apart to prevent the breaking of the web while for light weight this necessity does not apply. The sticks must be fed one at a time onto 24 in exact timing with the delivery of a stick from 26 as called for by the electric eye when the stick leaves 26. I

It will thus be Seen that we have invented a method and apparatus whereby paper may be 60 dried in festoons and at a high rate of speed and whereby the festoons may be formed without breakage at the high speeds and the paper maybe removed from the machine without breakage or damage at a high rate of speed.

What we claim is:

1. In a festoon drier, a main travelling carrier formed in sections by pairs of chains, sticks carried by said travelling carrier, an auxiliary carrier, sticks carried by said auxiliary carrier, said auxiliary carrier and sticks cooperating with said main carrier and sticks to facilitate the initial formation of loops and after the formation of the loops said auxiliary carrier removing said sticks carried thereby from contact with the paper to 75 permit the formation of the desired festoons.

2. In a festoon drier, a main travelling carrier formed of sectional elements, sticks carried by said travelling carrier, each of said sectional elements independently driven whereby the distance between the sticks may be varied as the sticks 5 carrying the festoons pass from one section to another, the initial element having an auxiliary carrier carrying sticks intermediate the sticks of the initial element and cooperating therewith to assist in the initial formation of smaller loops than the festoons of the subsequent sections of the drier.

3. In a festoon drier, a series of travelling stick conveyors, sticks for said conveyors, a stick control comprising a pawl for releasing said sticks onto said travelling stick conveyors, each conveyor operating at a different speed than the adjacent conveyors, actuating means for said pawl and a photoelectric cell controlling said actuating means when the preceding sticks have become separated to the required distance.

4. In a festoon drier for a travelling web of material at a predetermined linear speed, a conveyor carrying loose sticks spaced slightly less than the length of festoon to be formed and travelling at a linear speed slightly less than the linear speed of said web material, a second conveyor carrying sticks spaced intermediate to the sticks on the first conveyor and travelling at the same speed as the first conveyor, means for removing the sticks of the second conveyor from beneath the web to permit the paper to be supported in festoon lengths on the sticks of the first conveyor, and means for subsequently reducing the distance between the sticks of the first con- 5 veyor to slowly form festoon loops of normal spacing.

5. In a machine for festooning a web travelling at a predetermined linear speed, apair of chain conveyors carrying loose sticks spaced slightly less than the length of festoon to be formed and travelling at a linear speed slightly less than the linear speed of said web material, a second pair of chain conveyors carrying fixed sticks spaced intermediate to the sticks 45 on the first conveyor and travelling at the same speed as the first conveyor for supporting the underside of the web at frequent intervals on the conveyors, means for removing the fixed sticks of the second conveyor from beneath the web and means for reducing the distance between the sticks on the firstconveyor to slowly form festoon loops of normal spacing.

6. A machine for festooning web material, a pair of chain conveyors carrying loose sticks, spaced slightly less than the length of festoon to be formed and travelling at a linear speed slightly less than the linear speed of said web material,

a second pair of chain conveyors carrying fixed sticks spaced intermediate to the sticks of the first conveyors and travelling at the same speed to support the web at frequent intervals, means for removing .the fixed sticks on the second conveyors from the underside of the web, means for reducing the distance between the sticks on the first conveyors by additional chain conveyors each travelling slower than the previous pair of chain conveyors to slowly reduce the distance between the st'cks of the firstconveyor to that of the normal festoon spacing.

7. In a festoon machine, a series of travelling conveyors in the drier section, sticks carried by said conveyors, means for removing web material therefrom consisting of a smooth surface conveyor travelling slightly faster than the last 76 pair of chain conveyors on. the drier section, means for holding back the sticks carrying the festoon web in spaced relationship at the end of the smooth surface conveyor, a series of delivery conveyors, each travelling at a greater rate of speed than the preceding delivery conveyor, the rate of speed of the final conveyor approximating the linear surface speed of the web, a releasing mechanism for releasing one stick at a time to the delivery conveyors, a photoelectric cell to operate said releasing mechanism when the last festoon on the delivery conveyors is shortened to a predetermined depth whereby a light ray will strike the cell, and means for guiding and winding the web.

CHARLES A. DICKHAUT. CHARLES C. WILLIS. 

